I basically align myself with the consensus that Dakota Johnson picked wrong on this one. Like, I get that a lot of the chaotic neutral marketing for this movie is about how this is the anti-romcom, but as I see it, the movie sets up a couple of challenges for itself that prevent it from arriving at the most optimal and satisfying conclusion: first, it’s kind of assumed that despite the fact that Lucy and John are no longer dating, they take it as a given that they are soulmates from the first time that you see them together, so at best Harry seems like encroaching or paying rent on a space that is already taken, even when he is presenting some pretty powerful offers for transformation and aspiration. Second, the movie sort of sets up Harry’s wealth as a siren song to be resisted, as if giving into the allure of wealth and comfort afforded by impossible wealth is a notch in the belt, a feather in the cap for a world-wise lady. Lucy views her own frustration with an impoverished childhood and young adulthood as a form of shallowness, but no one really mounts a strong argument for the way that wealth can be spiritually fulfilling, especially since Lucy seems to have found a way to pull herself up by her own bootstraps in the intervening time since her breakup with her soulmate. To choose Harry seems like punching down on 99% of the audience watching vicariously who must return to their ramshackle huts at the end of credits, so how could you ever twist things to make wealth seem so unappealing (see, Justin Baldioni)?
Objections to Harry seem to be 1) he is worried that he’s incapable of love despite trying his best to woo someone he thinks is a formidable partner to match his own drive and ambition, and 2) he’s shorter than he appears?? Objections to John seem endless.
There are some gems in the movie: the different chambers of bullets for the definitions of love which Lucy employs for her different clients depending on the person and the setting; “grave buddies”; the concept of dating “math”; the daring order of coke and beer as if it isn’t absolutely insane; the labeling of some people as likely to fight in the middle of the street.
But ultimately this movie is almost designed to make people mad–any time that there’s a choice held up as better than Chris Evans getting together with Pedro Pascal.
